

There was a total of seven in our group and the vehicles have three rows and being able to take ten passengers in total. The lodge has a dedicated staff of safari guides who drive the specially-modified safari vehicles. I also went out here at night and gazed at the stars.Īfter checking in and checking out our rooms it was time for lunch.Įnjoying our afternoon of leisure it was time for the main event – the safari.

The villa had a nice lounge area and there is also a fire place, though we were there in autumn and it didn’t feel cold enough at night to need a fire.ĭuring our spare time in the day I liked to sit out on my balcony, make a coffee from my room, and look out into the open. With our early morning starts I showered while watching the day break over the horizon.

The shower faces the balcony and if you so choose you can shower while looking out in the wilderness. The bathroom continued with the modern touch and had lots of natural light from the windows.
Rhino 7 empty stomach windows#
There are large windows which looks out over the valley. Inside my room the centrepiece is the beds with mosquito nets. I imagined a safari lodge to be an old and stuffy affair, so I was surprised with the modernity of the lodge. I loved that the lodge and villas were of a modern design yet still had a lot of warmth with wood fittings. Each villa is self-contained and spread out along a path on the ridge, with villas on either side of the main building. We checked into our rooms, or more appropriately called villas. Once we arrived we had a light lunch as there as a bigger afternoon tea service provided. Just seeing this view made me excited to be staying here.

We started the day in St Lucia where we saw the hippo reserve, and after a few hours of driving we arrived at the lodge.Īs the name suggests the lodge is on a ridge, and it comes into view on the final approach up a hill. The park is about 280 kilometres north of Durban, depending on where you are staying in the park. The great thing about not having the name of Kruger is that there is hardly anyone here and we often felt like we had the whole reserve to ourselves. The park has a wide range of animals, including the coveted big five game animals, that tourists flock to Kruger to see. Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa, covering 960 square kilometres of territory. Either way Hluhluwe–Imfolozi was a real surprise for me. And perhaps it is the easy-to-say name that makes Kruger more brandable (Hluhluwe is a Zulu word and it sounds more like “Shoushlooee”). Kruger’s relatively close proximity to Johannesburg, which is the biggest air hub of Southern Africa, ensures that it gets a constant stream of visitors. In fact the only park we knew of was Kruger National Park, which ranks as one of Africa’s most famous. The group I was in was made up of five Australian and New Zealand travel writers from various mediums of media. The lodge is a base to explore the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and I stayed at the Rhino Ridge Lodge as a guest of the lodge and South Africa Tourism (Australia). So for this review it also includes the safari activities, which is why you come to stay at the lodge. This case is a little different because the destination and attractions and part and parcel of the accommodation experience. Usually when I write accommodation reviews I write about the hotel separately from the destination. Address: Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
